Method of making paper bags



June 1964 M. F. FORTE 3,136,277

METHOD OF MAKING PAPER BAGS Original Filed March 1,1961 2 heets-Sh 1 m wa W k Q %\ji (9 o \Q \Q l\ l\ O R &

I INVENTOR.

MANUEL F. FORTE BY ATTORNEYS June 9, 1964 M. F. FORTE METHOD OF MAKINGPAPER BAGS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed March 1, 1961 INVENTOR.

MANUEL F. FORTE ATTORNEYS United States Patent 0.

3,136,277 METHOD OF MAKING PAPER BAGS Manuel F. Forte, 652 N. Main St.,Acushnet, Mass. Original application Mar. 1, 1961, Ser. No. 92,494, nowPatent No. 3,082,717, dated Mar. 26, 1963. Divided and this applicationJan. 15, 1963, Ser. No. 251,509

4 Claims. (Cl. 112-262) This invention relates to a new and improvedmethod for making a paper bag and particularly an insulated or cushiontype of paper bag and is a division of my application, Serial No.92,494, filed March 1, 1961, now Patent No. 3,082,717. For purposes ofmailing articles such as books or the like, it has become very popularto utilize a paper bag which is provided with cushioned walls.Effectively, the walls of such a bag are padded by having made integraltherewith some cushioning material. Bags of this nature are verysuccessful in preventing damage to the contents thereof while beinghandled in the mails and provide a very convenient and inexpensivemailing container that can afterwards be thrown away. Specifically, thebag which is the product of the instant invention is of a flat enevelopetype which can be readily stacked with other similar bags and does nottake up the space that more rigid mailing containers would take.

In manufacturing bags of this general description, it is obvious thattwo layers of outer paper must be utilized with some insulationtherebetween. It will be apparent that, when this is done, a raw edgewill be left which may be an edge that is presented to the person usingthe bag at the opening thereof. Generally this raw edge constructioncannot be avoided since the bags of the prior art with which I amfamiliar cement together the two layers of paper that are utilized andthus some cement is bound to appear at the edge.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a method ofmanufacturing an insulated or cushioned bag envelope construction whichdoes not present a raw edge to the user thereof at the entrance pocket.

It is another object of the invention to construct a heat insulating orcushion envelope in a manner whereby a flap is automatically produced.

A further object of the invention is to construct a heat insulating orcushioned envelope type of bag in a continuous operation.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction as will be more fully described andparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a detached schematic elevational view of method of making animproved mailing bag or cushioned envelope;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view partially broken away showing the methodof creasing the paper wrapping around the cushioning material;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the continuous paper as it passes the gluingstation;

FIGURE 4 is a view of the partially completed bag as it passes out ofthe cutting station;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a completed bag; and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken on line 66 of FIGURE 5.

In proceeding with this invention, I provide a method of constructing amailing envelope comprising spaced opposed walls of packaging materialthat are fastened together in edge zones to form a commodity receivingcompartment therebetween and a mouth for said compartment between theopposed walls wherein both of the walls include two layers of packagingmaterial with cush- 3,136,277 Patented June 9, 1964 ice ioning materialtherebetween, the layers of packaging material being secured togetheralong marginal edges and one of the opposed walls having one dimensiongreater than the corresponding dimension of the other opposed wall sothat a sealing lip is formed for folding over the mouth.

Referring now to FIGURES 5 and 6 of the drawing, there is illustrated amailing envelope consisting of two strips of packaging material 10 and11, each of which is folded intermediate its ends as at 12 and 13respectively. The end portions of both of the strips are juxtaposed toform a single edge as at 14, and intermediate each of the folded layersof strips 10 and 11, there is positioned a cushioning material 15 whichmay be cotton wadding or any other suitable thick sheet-like materialthat has cushioning and insulating qualities. The strip of packagingmaterial 10 is longer than the strip 11 so that in effect a flapgenerally indicated as at 16 is formed, and as particularly shown inFIGURE 5 this flap. 16 may have placed on one surface thereof a layer ofadhesive 17 The edges 14 of the two strips 10 and 11 of packagingmaterial are stitched together by a line of stitching 18 together withan edge loop stitch 19. Similarly the two adjoining edges are stitchedtogether by lines of stitching 20 and edge stitching 21. It will beseen, therefore, that the strip of packaging material 10 with itscushioning material 15 forms a complete wall which will be termed Awhile the strip of packaging material 11 with its cushioning material 15therebetween forms a second wall which will be termed B. With the endand longitudinal marginal portions fastened together, a commodityreceiving compartment is formed between the walls A and B with a mouthas at C. With this construction it will be seen that the folded edgeportions 12 and 13 are relatively thick so that they may be readilyseparated for the commodity to enter at the mouth C and the edges willbe relatively stiff and strong so as to resist tearing or collapse andwill present a clean edge to the user thereof without any possibility ofcontact with the cushioning or filling material.

Packaging material which is intended to be used here is kraft paper orthe like, and the cushioning or insulating material that is preferred tobe used is cotton wadding. In manufacturing the mailing envelope of thisinvention, two rolls of cotton wadding 30 and 31 are received onrotatable supports 32, 33. Also two rolls of kraft paper 34, 35 arereceived on rotatable supports 36, 37 respectively, which are positionedimmediately adjacent the rolls of wadding 30 and 31. The wadding isguided over the rolls 34 and 35 by suitable means such as sheet metalguards 38, 39 and emerges as two webs 40 and 41. The kraft paper emergesas two sheets 42, 43 and both the web 40, 41 and the kraft paper sheets42, 43 pass on to guide rollers 44, 45 which may be more than oneroller, although for simplicity sake only one has been shown. At thispoint the wadding 40 and 41 lies on top of the kraft paper 42, 43. Thematerial thus oriented is then passed on down successively between anumber of edge guides such as 46, 46 and 47, 47' which tend to bring inthe edges of the kraft paper and start a folding operation until thepaper reaches a final creasing and folding station as at 50.

The upper half of station 50 is shown more particularly in FIGURE 2where the kraft paper 42 that was initially disposed in a horizontalplane has its edges brought upwardly by the successive stations of edgeguides to assume a vertical plane doubled upon itself as at 51. Creasingis effected along the doubled edge 51 by a creaser bar 52 that forcesthe folded edge 51 of the paper to a V-shaped roller 53. The creaser bar52 is provided with a guide arm 54 extending upwardly at an acute angletherefrom 3 and immediately adjacent the creaser bar is a loop 55through which the wadding sheet 40 is guided. The wedding sheet 40 firstpasses between the creaser arm 52 and the arm 54 and thence into theloop 55 which maintains it in the proper attitude as it passes onbetween a final pair of vertical bars 58 which are closely spacedtogether in order to form the final crease in the paper. It will ofcourse be understood that an identical structure creases the paper 43.

From this point, the two sets of folded paper are turned to assume ahorizontal attitude and both layers are turned in the same direction sothat the folded edge portion of one set appears adjacent the foldedportion of the other set. Also the free edges of the two folded sheetsare oriented so that they in effect will appear one above the other asthey pass into a final creaser and orienting station 60. Up to thispoint several factors should be kept in mind. First, in order to producethe mailing envelope that has been briefly discussed above, a width ofthe strips passing on down through the line must vary. To this end,therefore, the width of the kraft paper on roll 34 is slightly widerthan that appearing on roll 35 by the extent of the flap that isdesired. Thus, if a two-inch sealing flap is desired, the difference inwidth between the two sheets of kraft paper will be four inches.Similarly the width of the wadding rolls 30 and 31 will vary andpreferably the wadding width is equal to one-half of the kraft paperwidth. Thus, the wadding on roll 30 will be half the width of the kraftpaper on roll 34, and similarly the wadding on roll 31 will be half thewidth of the kraft paper on roll 35.

Turning now to the final smoothing and creasing station 60, a first pairof guide rolls 61 and 62 tend to orient the folded paper sets onto flattables 63 and 64, respectively, which may be provided with edge guidebars that will give vertical alignment to the one edge of the foldedsheets, and at this position, over the tables 63 and 64, smoothing ofthe two layers may be insured by suitable means and/ or inspection andare passed out into a loop as at 70. The two layers are then picked upover a pair of tables 71 and 72 by a common feed roll 73 and fed into astitching position 75 where a sewing machine 76 places a single stitch18 and a loop stitch 19 along the juxtapositioned open edges ornon-folded edges of the two sheets fastening them together. The loop at70 is necessary in order to take up any errors that might occur in thefeeding to the sewing machine station and/or breakdowns that. mightoccur, such as breakages of needles or thread, and permits stopping ofthe entire feeding apparatus without tearing the packaging layers or thefilling therebetween. The two layers, now stitched together in a formsuch as shown in FIGURE 3, are passed on to a gluing station as at 80 inwhich a usual gluing machine having a glue-applying roller afiixes glueto the free flap of the lower folded layer A which is indicated by thestippling at FIGURE 3.

After the glue has been dried in suitable drying apparatus well known inthe art, the material passes down over roller 81 into a loop formationas at 82 and thence up over an arcuate guideway 83 to a cutting stationas at 84. The cutting station 84 consists of a support table 85 withhold down and feed rollers 86, 87 to maintain the layers against thetable. To achieve cutting, a reciprocating knife arrangement 88 isprovided, and this knife may take a variety of forms in addition to apure reciprocating knife, such as a swinging knife mounted on the end ofa lever arm. The operation at this particular station is as follows: Thelayers are advanced over the guide 83 by power being applied to therollers 86 and 87. When the layers come up against an abutment 89,sensing means at this location arrests the feeding and initiates knifeaction. As soon as the knife action has been completed, the feed roller87 is actuated and delivers the cut piece onto the back of the table asat 98 where they may pass into a receiving box such as 92, the operationrepeating again with new stock being advanced.

It will be realized that the bag at this point assumes the configurationas shown in FIGURE 4, the width dimension being controlled of course bythe location of the sensing and stopping means 89 relative to the knife81. This, of course, may be varied at will to suit any customersdesires. From this point the cut material may be manually carried to asewing station 94 to apply stitching 20 and loop edge stitching 21.Alternately, automatic means may be utilized to transfer the cut stripsfrom the table at 90 to a stitching station located at right anglesthereto where two sewing machines will apply the necessary stitching 20and 21 at either edge of the bag automatically. The bag in thiscondition is now ready for use, and, if necessary, certain printingindicia may be placed thereon, either after the bag is finished orduring the processing thereof, as necessity dictates.

I claim:

1. The method for producing mailing bags from two sheets of continuousmaterial of different widths comprising feeding said sheets togetherwith Webs of cushioning material, folding each sheet medially of itsedges about said material to provide walls of different widths havingsuperimposed layers with folded edges and free edges with a cushioningmaterial between, superimposing said walls and aligning their free edgesto provide a two-wall structure, stitching the walls together at thesuperimposed free edges thereof so that the wider wall extends beyondthe other wall, laterally cutting said stitched together walls andsecuring together the lateral edges to produce bags having three closedand one open edge portion.

2. The method of producing mailing bags comprising feeding two strips ofcontinuous material, folding each strip longitudinally providing twoplies each having a folded edge and free edges, orienting andsuperimposing the folded strips so that the free longitudinal marginaledges of each ply of said strips are juxtaposed, securing the saidlongitudinal free edges together, laterally cutting the secured togetherplies to the width of the bags to beformed, and securing together thelaterally cut edges.

3. The method of producing mailing bags as in claim 2 wherein the twostrips of continuous material are fed one over the other and a web ofcushioning material is fed along with each strip and positioned betweenthe layers formed by said folding.

4. The method of producing mailing bags comprising feeding two strips ofcontinuous material, folding each strip longitudinally providing twoplies each having folded edges and free edges, orienting andsuperimposing the folded strips so that the free longitudinal marginaledges of each ply of said strips are juxtaposed, securing the saidlongitudinal free edges together, laterally cutting the secured togetherplies to the width of the bags to be formed, and securing together thelaterally cut edges wherein the said strips are oriented with the foldedportions thereof laterally separable.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,888,949 Henares Nov. 22, 1932 2,374,128 Pinckert Apr. 17, 19452,431,888 Pick Dec. 2, 1947 2,521,187 Robinson Sept. 5, 1950 2,667,132Golden Jan. 26, 1954

1. THE METHOD FOR PRODUCING MAILING BAGS FROM TWO SHEETS OF CONTINUOUSMATERIAL OF DIFFERENT WIDTHS COMPRISING FEEDING SAID SHEETS TOGETHERWITH WEBS OF CUSHIONING MATERIAL, FOLDING EACH SHEET MEDIALLY OF ITSEDGES ABOUT SAID MATERIAL TO PROVIDE WALLS OF DIFFERENT WIDTHS HAVINGSUPERIMPOSED LAYERS WITH FOLDED EDGES AND FREE EDGES WITH A CUSHIONINGMATERIAL BETWEEN, SUPERIMPOSING SAID WALLS AND ALIGNING THEIR FREE EDGESTO PROVIDE A TWO-WALL STRUCTURE, STITCHING THE WALLS TOGETHER AT THESUPERIMPOSED FREE EDGES THEREOF SO THAT THE WIDER WALL EXTENDS BEYOND